In the last 7-8 weeks of the pregnancy my blood pressure had slowly been rising and the day before my due date (1/6/07) it was very high. Our midwife, Sally, proceeded to use acupressure and homeopathics to reduce it and to induce labour. We were also ordered to have sex and told she would come around to co-ordinate later that evening if need be, lol! I was left with instructions to take the homeopathic kali phos every 4hrs and to call her immediately if any symptoms occurred on the list she gave me. She returned 2 days later on the 7th for a quick visit to check my BP and it was back down to within safe levels, still a bit high but ok. She told me to keep resting and she'd be back in another 2 days.

The following day at 1.30pm I was laying on the couch, SO, Moose, still in bed (oh the days before parenthood), when my waters broke with a gush. Woke up Moose and hopped straight into the shower. Had my first contraction at 2.30pm and boy did I hoof straight into it! Sally arrived about 3pm, checked me over and said my BP was ok and baby's heart rate was normal. I laboured well over the afternoon and early evening with strong and steady contractions.

Now Lilsa had been consistently posterior and nothing I had done during pregnancy managed to turn her for the birth. I'm unaware of times but Sally said I had been pushing for 5hrs by the time she was born. Sally had me walking up and down the stairs and around the roundabout in the driveway but nothing would turn my stubborn little girl!

Now in hindsight, I never felt really "pushy" but she was slowly making her way down the birth canal in her own sweet time. And now in real life, I cannot push her to do anything!

I know at some point I got really sooky and kept saying to Moose that I wanted to go to the hospital. At one point Sally felt inside of me and made me do the same and I could feel Lilsa's head about 2-3inches up the birth canal. I rallied somewhat at this point and said I will stay at home. Then an hour later when I felt again she had only moved down about an inch, I got completely discouraged and my birth team were not able to get through to me. I am very good at putting up a wall and blocking people out.

Sally later told me that they slowly got everything ready to give me a little bit more time but I did not change so we got in the car and went to the hospital, which took 25minutes.

I was immediately taken to L&D where I was examined by the on duty doctor (not an OB). It was uncomfortable but not painful. Shortly after this the OB arrived and boy was she awful! She made me lie on my back in stirrups, hurt me when she examined me and then got very upset that I would not let her do an episiotomy. The whole time I had still been contracting regularly and on the next one she told me to push push push and when Lilsa crowned instead of leaving her there to stretch me out made me push through the end of it, reached in with her hands and pulled Lilsa out! Her face was towards my thigh when she came out. Needless to say because of this treatment I tore very badly. This was at 4.17am on 1/9/07.

Lilsa was placed onto my chest immediately and was strawberries and cream, very clean and incredibly alert at 8lbs, 5oz and 48.5cm long. (She gets the shorts from her father’s side of the family, I am taller than him!) She suckled very shortly afterwards and we were home 4hrs after she was born.

Phew! I did it. That is the first time I have written it all down, hope it is clear!

I fully believe that she would have come out slowly on her own if I had stayed at home. She was just doing it slowly because she was the "wrong" way and did not want to hurt her mama. (She is very protective of me and doesn't like to see me hurt.) I just did not believe in myself that I could do it.

Since we conceived our 2nd baby I have fully faced her birth have been doing heaps of kinesiolgy with my SIL to help move on the energy of her birth and also the cellular memory of my own and her births. I was a 10lb, 10oz breech birth. My mum did all the hard work then they knocked her out for the last bit where they pulled me out of her. Anyone else seeing the pattern?

I am feeling confident about the upcoming birth. Unfortunately our wonderful midwife Sally has been suspended due to the witch hunt going on with IM's in Australia at the moment but she put us onto another amazing midwife who we are very happy with and the second midwife who works with Sally is still coming to the birth as well.”